


Hitched

by dietcoked



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst, Baby, F/M, Fluff, Johnny - Freeform, Weddings, Youngho, chittaphon, how do people do this, i cant tag help, oh god what are these tags even, reader x ten, ten - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 22:45:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8596738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dietcoked/pseuds/dietcoked
Summary: It's his wedding day. Ten's wedding day. And it's not you he's marrying.





	

It was his wedding day. Ten’s wedding day. The last month of his whirlwind engagement leading up to this one ten minute ceremony that would have him bound for the rest of his life. And not to you.

Despite loving him pretty much since the day you met him all those years ago, he’d always been far too happy-go-lucky to notice, and eventually someone else caught his eye. Within two months of meeting her, he’d proposed and now, just a month after that, they were getting married. You’d known your house plant longer than Ten had known his future wife.

But he was your best friend, and whenever he smiled the room, the world, seemed brighter, so how could you deny him when he asked if you’d be his best ‘(wo)man’. So now here you were, sat here holding both rings as he messed about next to you sorting out his collar.

“This is okay, right?” He asked, turning to you with the world’s worst bow tie. You sighed, standing up to tie it for him.

“Hey, calm down,” you said gently, knowing he could usually do it just fine. “You’re literally shaking, Ten.”

“Ah, I know, I know,” He replied, breathing out shakily and running a hand through his hair. “It’s crazy, isn’t it? I can dance in front of thousands of people but saying a few words in front of only about a hundred is freaking me out more than any performance ever has.”

“Well, I guess when you’re dancing you’re not committing to something for the rest of your life, huh?” I laughed lightly, but when I looked up at him there was no hint of humour in his features.

“I guess not.”

There was silence for a while after that. You finished his tie and sat back down, holding both rings in your hand once again.

“You have cold feet?”

“Yeah.” You hadn’t expected such a blunt reply from him.

 “It’s not too late to back out of this, Ten. You’ve known her three months . I’m sure people would understand if-”

“It is too late.” He cut you off. “It’s… actually been too late for a while now, Y/N.” He spoke weirdly, cryptically.

“What do you mean? You’re not married yet…” You trailed off and Ten’s head sunk into his hands. He was so happy all the time that it felt alien to see him act like this.

“You’re going to kill me. For not telling you earlier.” The expression on his face had your heart beginning to thump in your chest. You watched him as he looked up again to meet your gaze.

“Ten…”

“She’s pregnant.”

Both of the rings slipped from between your fingers, the sound of them clinking on the wooden floor the only thing that filled the silence. Ten waited for you to say something, but you had no idea what it was he wanted to hear. You stared back at him.

“It was an accident, obviously. I mean I don’t even know how- well, I mean, I was actually going to break up with her because things weren’t really working with the schedule and stuff, and I was _literally_ about to do it when she told me and then she started crying and stuff about being a single parent and raising a kid on her own and I just- I just-”

He started crying.

“I told her I’d be there for her and all that, because that’s what you’re supposed to say right? I mean, it all happened so fast and I don’t really even remember proposing or anything but apparently I must have because after that she just assumed we were engaged and started planning everything and, and-”

He finally took a breath.

“And… I have to marry her now. I told her I would, I told her family, _my family_ , I would. And they’re all out there, expecting me to marry her in-” He checked his watch. “-holy shit, thirty-five minutes.”

He began to rub the tears away from his eyes, but you were still too shocked to move. The concept of Ten having a child… when he practically still was one. It had seemed weird enough he’d decided to get married. You knew he’d have children eventually but you didn’t think you’d have to deal with it this quickly.

“Even if I didn’t marry her,” he whispered quietly, as if admitting out loud he didn’t want to was the problem here. “It wouldn’t change the fact she’s having my baby. And I would never in a million years ask her not to keep it, or not be a part of its life. I don’t know about loving her, but I sure as hell love that baby.”

You were crying now, too. Crying for the boy you loved. And maybe crying a little in self pity at how easily you could let him get away.

“What kind of a father would I be if I didn’t teach my son or daughter about taking responsibility?”

You hugged him then. Pulled him closer than you had since he’d met his girlfriend. Suddenly, you were pulled away from your own personal tragedy of your feelings for him into something you knew was a lot deeper, a lot more important.

“Ten… if your son or your daughter was in this situation, would you force them to marry someone they didn’t love just to ‘take responsibility’?”

He seemed to consider what you’d said for a moment. Blinked once, then twice.

“Y/N, help me. I can’t marry her.”

His head was buried in your shoulder as you glanced at the clock behind him. Still half an hour to go, so guests probably wouldn’t be in their seats yet. They could wait, you decided. He needed to tell _her._ But it didn’t seem like he was going to be able to, the way he was sobbing into your shoulder. You stroked his hair down.

“Next time-” God, you hoped there wasn’t a ‘next time’ for a situation like this. “You tell me everything, ok. You tell me everything from the biggest parts of your life right down to what you ate for breakfast, Chittaphon.” You felt him nod a little. “Now,” you placed your hands on his shoulders and put him at an arm’s length from you. “you want to take responsibility? You need to go talk to the mother of your child.”

And he did. He told her he couldn’t marry her, told her it wouldn’t be fair to either of them, because he didn’t love her and she could find someone so much better for her. Of course she cried - yelled a little even - but eventually the both of them built up the courage to announce together to their guests that they would not be getting married that day.

 

Weeks passed quickly in the time after that. Her bump grew and Ten went with her to all her scans, whilst you waited outside for him in the car.

He gradually returned to the happy-go-lucky dancer you remembered him to be. It still felt odd that he was going to be a parent but the pride he emanated whenever he pulled out the latest scan photo was enough for you to tell he’d be an amazing father.

You found him spending more time with you than ever. You went with him to buy baby clothes, baby furniture and just about every other thing you could possibly need for a baby, and probably a lot of things you didn’t need at all. Everything was in a shade neutral or yellow because they didn’t know the sex of the baby.

“Wow,” You said to him one day at the counter of a shop you were in. “I sure hope this baby likes light brown or we’re screwed.”

The cashier smiled at you both. “Congratulations” she said directly to you. Ten laughed a little.

“Oh my god. This isn’t- I mean, I’m not pregnant.” You responded, hand consciously flying to your stomach – you _did_ eat a giant bowl of ramen at lunch but you thought ‘pregnant’ was pushing it a little.

“Oh! I apologise. You’re a couple though, right?” she asked. What a nosy woman. Before you could deny it, Ten snaked an arm around your waist and smiled very brightly.

“Yeah, our friend is having a baby so we thought we’d help out.” He turned to you. “Isn’t that right, _honey_?” he asked, clearly finding himself a little hilarious. Your throat went a little dry, so you just smiled and nodded, gathering up the neutral baby clothes and making a beeline for the exit, Ten laughing behind you.

“You went so red, oh my god,” he was laughing as you walked back to the car. You couldn’t believe how oblivious he was.

 

You were there in his apartment watching TV with him when, at 11pm, exactly 8 months after the day he was supposed to get married, when the phone rang, telling him she’d gone into labour. You were the one that drove to the hospital and you sat in the waiting room alone until 6am, when a nurse came down the hall to tell you that Ten now had a son. A 6lbs 9oz son with no name.

So many people came to the hospital that day with presents for little Ten Jr that you wouldn’t be surprised if there was a star shining over his room beckoning people from far and wide like the nativity. The entirety of the baby’s mother’s family came and went and you were still left outside – immediate family only, apparently, although you felt that all those people couldn’t exactly be described as immediate. It wasn’t until you finally saw Ten wandering through the halls of the hospital in search of a drink that you saw your chance to finally meet the baby.

Ten’s eyes widened when he realised you were even here at all. He’d thought you’d gone home last night after dropping him here, he told you, as he dragged you into the maternity ward. You followed him through many doors until finally you opened one and stopped as you saw him peer over into a small blue cot.

You could only watch in awe as he lifted the baby swaddled in white cloth, the whole situation feeling a little dreamlike.

“Okay little man, you ready to meet your favourite auntie?” he cooed into the bundle of cloth, gradually stepping closer towards you until you could get a good look at his face.

The baby blinked up at you, and you blinked back. It was amazing, really, that this baby – born just hours ago – already bore an incredible resemblance to Ten. The button nose curved in the exact same way Ten’s did. The deep brown, almond shaped eyes that crinkled at the edges in delight was identical to Ten when he would laugh at his own jokes. Even without any teeth, the child’s lips puckered together in the same heart shape of his dad.

“Hello,” you whispered, tapping lightly at the small fingers that seemed to be itching for something to hold on to. Ten carefully passed the baby over to you.  “Hello, beautiful.”

Ten laughed gently. “Beautiful? I don’t remember writing that on the birth certificate.”

“You mean, Ten Jr has a name?”

He laughed even more at that, which only seemed to make his son want to laugh to. You didn’t mind being laughed at by these two so much.

“Woah, Ten Jr. I love that. It’s a shame we didn’t go with that, actually.”

“Ten?” You looked expectantly.

“Fine.” He sighed. “Meet Johnny.”

You nearly choked on air, only managing not to yell because of the baby – Johnny – in the room.

“Johnny?” You squeaked out. “But that’s-”

“An English name, yeah. I know. But we both liked it.”

“Does Youngho know?” Despite your shock, it made sense. Ten had a lot to thank Youngho for; he was the first real friend Ten made in Korea. Without his friendship, Ten often mentioned he thought he would’ve gone back to Thailand.

“Not yet, but once he does I’m sure he’ll never live it down.”

A comfortable silence fell over you both as you ran over Johnny’s cheeks with your fingertips. You could feel Ten’s gaze on you both.

“Y/N…” He spoke softly, drawing your attention away for a moment. “Thank you.”

You smiled. “Anyone would’ve given you a lift in that situation. It’s not even that far.” You laughed, brushing it off.

“No, not for- I mean, just, thank you. For everything. You’ve always been my best friend but I really don’t think I could’ve gotten through this last year without you. So thank you.” A warm feeling spread through you, and you had to admit it was nice to hear him say that. Suddenly it didn’t matter that he didn’t love you the way you wanted him to, because you knew that at least in one way, he needed you. And it felt good.

“Yeah, you are pretty lucky to have me,” you grinned, turning your attention back to Johnny as you lowered him back into his crib.

And no sooner had you removed your hands from the crib, you felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around your waist, pulling you backwards and into the warmth of Ten’s body. He rested his head on your shoulder, lips against your ear. You could feel his breath there, tickling you.

You froze, waiting for him to say something, do something. But he didn’t, so you stayed like that, unsure of what was going on.

“Y/N…” he whispered, one hand sliding from where it was on your waist to grab your wrist and spin you so you were facing, uncomfortably close. You couldn’t meet his gaze, even though he was staring right at you, right _through_ you, it felt like. “Look at me.”

You did. All you had to do was look into his eyes to understand. To have it all confirmed to you that this was, in fact, a confession. You almost couldn’t believe it, after years of loving him unrequitedly you’d never even let yourself think he could love you. But right now, there in his eyes, was the cold hard proof.

“I-” It was a good thing he kissed you then, seeing as you really had no idea what you would’ve said anyway. The kiss was soft, warm, and relatively brief, but it was all you’d ever wanted from him. He rested his forehead on yours, eyes closed for a moment.

“I’ve always been lucky to have you,” he agreed. “I was just too stupid to realise it until recently.” He leaned in and kissed you again, and it felt even softer, even warmer, even more _right_ than before. “I think I’ve been in love with you for quite a while now actually.”

Your breath hitched a little as you hugged him tight, not wanting to cry but kind of not being able to help it. The baby been so quiet, you’d almost forgotten he was in the room, until he made a small gurgling sound. He sent the happiest, toothless look of glee your way when you glanced over at him, and somehow, you knew things would be okay.

“I think I’ve been in love with you for a little while too.”


End file.
